Images

Preview image for video: shows the swiftly moving lava in the channelized flow.

Preview image for video: shows a large chunk of lava being pushed by the current in the channel.

Another view of the spatter coating the area around the breakout point.

The withdrawal of magma from within Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, to feed the new flows, has caused minor subsidence of the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater floor since this morning. This was associated with small collapses at the spatter cones on the crater floor. A partial collapse of this cone revealed a small pond of lava just below the surface.

As noted above, the new flows have caused withdrawal of magma within Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō and small collapses of the several cones on the crater floor. Dropping lava levels in the northeast lava pond in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater caused collapses and enlargement of the pond, which has nearly claimed the time-lapse camera (left side of images) observing the lava pond.

Lava flow breakout from northeast flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on the East Rift Zone of Kīlauea volcano.

View of the sinuous channelized flow that is moving to the northeast. The flow front this morning was about 1.5 km (0.9 miles) from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

The advancing front of the channelized flow northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. The front this morning was 1.5 km (0.9 miles) from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

Thermal image of the channelized lava flow. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is at the top of the image. The line of slightly lower temperatures down the center of the channel represents more intact (and cooler) crust, which is less disrupted than the lava near the channel margins.

This comparison of a normal photograph with a thermal image shows the distribution of activity northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. Today's breakouts originated from several fissures on the upper northeast flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone, sending out flows to the northeast. These partially overlap with the existing Kahauale‘a 2 flow, which had scattered surface flows this morning.

A closer look at the breakout points of today's new activity. The lava erupted from several fissures which broke through, and slightly uplifted, older lava on the cone.

A very close view of one of the breakout points, with fresh spatter coating the older lava.

Surface flows remained active this morning on the Kahauale‘a 2 flow, but today's observations suggest that the new breakouts at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō may have interrupted the lava supply to the Kahauale‘a 2 flow field. Observations over the next few days will be able to determine if the lava supply to the Kahauale‘a 2 flow has ceased.

A sketch by Joseph Nāwahī showing the 1881 lava flow approaching Hilo. (Courtesy of National Park Service, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, HAVO 394, Volcano House Guest Register 1873 to 1885, illustration by Joseph Nāwahī, February 21, 1881.)

 Sara Zeigler (USGS) uses the smartphone data collection app ‘iPlover’ to classify the landscape characteristics in an area immediately surrounding a piping plover nest (here, protected with a black mesh predator exclosure).

Human modifications to beaches, such as sand fencing, sea walls and rock jetties, can alter natural beach processes like overwash. This can affect how much habitat for species like piping plovers is created by storms.

USGS scientists are working to model shorebird habitat availability both today and in the future, given processes like sea-level rise, in an effort to support the efficient management of beaches for both people and nesting shorebirds. This photo shows an area on the Rockaway Peninsula where high quality shorebird habitat has been closed off to beach recreation.

June 17, 2014, photo showing smoke produced by the incursion of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow into native forest 7.0 km (4.3 miles) northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, which is visible in the background.

The beach-dependent shorebirds project at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center models current and future habitat availability for nesting shorebirds in an effort to map current and likely future habitat availability on a range of sites along the U.S. Atlantic coast.

The Kahauale‘a 2 flow remains active northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. Today, its most distant tip, in the foreground of this photo, was burning into the forest 7.0 km (4.3 miles) from its source at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. View is toward the southwest.